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The United States is experiencing the worst measles outbreak in recent years, the supervisors reported. As of May 16, 1,024 measles cases have been confirmed in 31 jurisdictions, including California. There have been 11 confirmed cases in the state and four of those were in Los Angeles County as of May 12, the county reported.

One recent case involved a county resident who recently traveled internationally. The county Department of Public Health is interviewing 700 people who may have been in contact and therefore, been exposed. They are determining if they have been vaccinated or are immune because they had the measles. If neither, or they don’t know, they’ll need a blood test and may need to quarantine for 21 days.

The supervisors voted 5-0 to construct a plan for its health department to give out vaccinations to adults and children and to track vaccination coverage. Tracking vaccinations and pinpointing areas with low vaccine rates is something not done for measles vaccines.

“I believe it is critical the county continue to identify opportunities to keep county residents safe from measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs),” said Supervisor Hilda Solis, who authored the motion.

Making things more difficult is misinformation on the internet about the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which is both a safe and highly effective method for preventing people from getting measles and spreading the disease, the county reported.

Meanwhile, 63% of adults and 61% of parents have been exposed to the false claim that the MMR vaccine causes autism, which the county DPH and an overwhelming number of doctors and medical institutions say is completely without…

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Some of the men officials announced had been arrested after immigration sweeps in L.A. County appear to have been in custody before federal actions began Friday and were followed by a weekend of escalating protests.

Of the 12 people the Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, called the “worst of the worst” in a news release Sunday, it appears at least two were serving lengthy sentences at the time they were arrested, according to law enforcement records.

Homeland Security said Saturday that 118 people had been arrested by ICE in the L.A. County immigration actions. Homeland Security said Sunday that some of those who had been arrested had prior criminal histories, including the 12 they identified.

The department directed LAist back to its initial news release when asked for more information.

Here is what Homeland Security said about the men and what LAist had learned by Sunday night:

• Victor Mendoza-Aguilar, 32, a citizen of Mexico. ICE said Mendoza-Aguilar had been sentenced to more than two years in jail and four years in prison for convictions related to assault with a deadly weapon, obstructing a public officer and other offenses in Pasadena. It’s unclear when the convictions or sentencing referred to in ICE’s news release occurred. L.A. County Sheriff’s Department records show Mendoza-Aguilar was arrested in December 2024 in Pasadena.  
• Delfino Aguilar-Martinez, 51, a citizen of Mexico. ICE said Aguilar-Martinez had been convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced to a year in jail. L.A. County Sheriff’s Department records show he was arrested in Signal Hill in March of this year and appeared in court as recently as April. 
• Armando Ordaz, 44, a citizen of Mexico. ICE said Ordaz was convicted of sexual battery,…

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President Donald Trump returned to the White House this year promising to carry out the “largest deportation operation” in U.S. history.

On Friday, federal agents conducted a series of immigration sweeps across Los Angeles in the first large-scale enforcement action under the new Trump administration. The protests in L.A. were among numerous heated encounters between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents around the nation in recent days.

Local immigrants rights groups, which have braced for this for months, pushed back in protests marked by resistance and anger.

As top local leaders decried the arrests, White House officials promised they’d carry on more sweeps.

In light of this activity, we’re looking back at a story first published in January detailing existing rights.

The context

California is home to the largest undocumented immigrant population in the U.S. More than 12% of the state’s high school students have at least one parent who is undocumented. For these families, mass deportation represents possible long-term separation, family upheaval and the potential loss of educational opportunities.

Regardless of their immigration status, people who live in the U.S. have constitutional rights. To ensure those rights are respected during interactions with immigration agents, advocates across the country have hosted workshops, in person and online.

In a webinar held earlier this year for the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), David Lawlor with the nonprofit’s College Legal Services Team, offered some advice to anxious college students who are undocumented or have at least one parent who is: In times of uncertainty, “focus on what you can control.”

“And one of the things you can control,” he said, “is knowing your…

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The Na’vi oceanic clan who live on Pandora’s reefs will push out Mike, Sulley and the other Monsters Inc. scare factory workers to make room for a new Avatar themed land that will take over an underused back corner of Disney California Adventure.

Disneyland will transform a portion of the Hollywood Backlot area in DCA’s Hollywood Land into an Avatar destination experience at the Anaheim theme park as part of the $1.9 billion DisneylandForward expansion project.

Work will begin on the Avatar themed land transformation in early 2026 when the Monsters Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue dark ride closes to make way for construction.

Walt Disney Imagineering remains in the early stages of development on the Avatar project which is not expected to debut until 2028 or 2029.

DCA’s new Avatar themed land will be based on the second film “The Way of Water” from 2022, the third film “Fire and Ash” coming in 2025 and other upcoming movies in the franchise.

“Just as ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ introduced places on Pandora we’ve never seen before, we are taking our guests to a whole new location,” Imagineering Portfolio Executive Creative Producer Emo O’Brien said during a media event at Disney California Adventure.

ALSO SEE: Disneyland plans to build new Coco ride in Pixar Pier

New concept art depicts visitors wandering through the water-centric land dominated by a towering ribbed rockwork wall with a cascading waterfall and cave-like tunnels. A trio of 30-foot-tall peacock-like plants with purple-tipped palm fronds will accent the land. A translucent Metkayina outrigger canoe with seashells decorating the bow can be seen in the foreground next to an emerald green body of water.

So far, Disney has only discussed a single new attraction for DCA’s Avatar land that promises action and thrills on the wide-open seas of Pandora. The innovative boat ride will take riders on a journey through a Pandoran rainforest glowing in luminescent blues,…

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A federal judge is ordering the city of Los Angeles to prove that it provided more than 2,600 rental subsidies for unhoused people, evidence that L.A. is complying with long-standing agreements to create more shelter.

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter made the order at the end of a hearing held to determine whether the city is fulfilling its legal obligations in a lawsuit with the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights, a downtown business group that sued the city.

Los Angeles is required to create 6,000 new beds for unhoused people under a 2020 deal known as the Roadmap agreement. The city has been counting rental subsidies in compliance reports submitted to the court.

But Carter said in an amended order issued Thursday that he had “serious concerns about the accuracy” of the numbers. He required city representatives to provide evidence about the rental subsidies by next week.

The judge is expected to make a decision by the end of the month on whether L.A. has breached its legal obligations, as laid out in the agreements, and if control of the city’s homelessness spending should be handed to a third party.

Why it matters now

Several witnesses, including the city administrative officer and deputy mayor for Homelessness and Community Health, testified during the federal court hearing, which lasted more than a week in downtown L.A.

Part of the evidence focused on what are known as time-limited subsidies, which are a means to get unhoused people into apartments and other rental units on the private market, typically for up to two years.

The regional Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, known as LAHSA, has said the subsidies support people experiencing homelessness by helping them access permanent housing quickly.

According to his order, Carter is…

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Years in the making, the LA Metro train station that soon will connect to a people mover taking riders directly into the terminals at LAX was dedicated on Friday, June 6, marking a major step into a first-ever transit option to and from the busy airport.

The new LAX/Metro Transit Center, located off both the C and K train lines just blocks from Inglewood, was opened to the public at 5 p.m. on Friday, connecting to airport terminals via shuttles. The 500,000-square-foot station’s 16 bus bays will accommodate six LA metro bus routes and eight municipal bus lines. A people mover being built by the Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) is scheduled to open early next year and connect to the station.

More than 300 officials attended the grand opening event, with speakers including LA Mayor Karen Bass, LA County Supervisor and Metro Board Chair Janice Hahn and Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins.

“Here in L.A., when people say ‘Can you give me a ride to LAX?’ You can finally say no way. We finally have a beautiful, reliable rail connection to LAX,” said Hahn.

The C Line from Norwalk to the LAX/Metro Transit Center Station takes about 32 minutes. The ride from the K Line toward Expo/Crenshaw from the Redondo Beach Station to the LAX station takes 19 minutes. Connections to the K Line can be made from the E Line going toward Santa Monica by transferring at Expo/Crenshaw Station. Also, the K Line can be reached going toward East L.A. on the E Line. From the San Fernando Valley, one would take the B Line to 7th/Metro Station and transfer to the E Line. From the San Gabriel Valley, one would take the A Line to 7th/Metro, transfer to the E Line heading toward Santa Monica and take the K Line at Expo/Crenshaw.

Train trips from the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys would take between 85 and 95 minutes, depending on where the ride starts.

The LAX Automated People Mover Project, a 2.25-mile elevated train, was originally set to open in 2023 and pushed back to 2025 and now…

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